Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Acknowledgments

I have been thinking about them.  They are tricky little beasties.  There are so many people to thank.  So many people who helped.  There are the people who helped with facts and story and research and history and crunchy little plot problems and people who helped me live the life I had to live while I wrote.  And they are numerous and invaluable.

And then there are the people (sometimes the same people) who helped me get there.  They believed and knew and loved and wished and wanted and spoke.  They made the road from idea to words to story to print to agent to publisher a bounded shape.  Without them I would have been roaming around in a shapeless dark.  I can never thank them enough.  They have a stake in this book.  It belongs to them too.  Without that gravity of love and trust I could never have ridden my wordy little bicycle to the end of that road.  Thank you.

13 comments:

  1. Proof again of how wonderful and emotional acknowledgements can be and why I love them :) Beautifully written, Priya!

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  2. kals, that is so sweet! thank you! this all makes me feel better about having spent hours agonising over them!

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  3. It's so hard to even make sure you remember them all!! 8 more months, right? when do you start the countdown?:)

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  4. wow, yes 8 months! i had not counted! i am just getting my website together now. i should do one here but have no idea how to do it!

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  5. Well it looks to me like you have a good part of your acknowledgement section written already! I think what you posted above would be perfect for it--just throw in a few names and voila!

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  6. I agree with Kals: I normally read acknowledgments, and appreciate those that are well written. I like your bicycle metaphor!

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  7. I think the paragraphs above are an almost perfect thankyou acknowledgement already Priya.

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  8. bibliophiliac, so happy to hear people read them!

    lindyloumac, that is so kind. thank you.

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  9. What a beautiful post - I feel like I want to thank all of people who have been supporting you too! I sounds like you have a wonderful support system.

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  10. I love your post. I always like to read acknowledgments and see what the writer has to say to those who supported and assisted while the book was being written. Good luck!

    You have an award at my blog!
    http://myreadingtable.blogspot.com

    Have a great weekend!

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  11. I love the little bicycle metaphor, in a way it says it all in one sentence...So lovely, as usual your writing is beautiful and full of poetry.

    I don't usually care too much about the acknowledgements since I don't know any of the people, BUT if I was one of them then I probably would ;-) Yours is great even without the names. Love from London x

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  12. I felt so honored when my dear friend listed my name in the acknowledgment section of her first book. I took my kids to the library, showed them the book on the shelf (I had one at home, of course), and said, "Mommy's name is now in the library!" It was a great feeling and very appreciated.

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